Fanning the Flames
by firelordozaie
Summary: Naruto is forced into the care of the Uchiha clan, Fugaku while unhappy accepts this, and young Naruto's life will be very different for it.
1. Prologue

There he stood, hands gripped tightly while still retaining an appearance of grace and freedom from any indicators of stress.

"With all due respect, Sir. May I speak freely?" The status identifier stated with a clear sarcastic intent.

"You may." The wizened old man replied, in a rare instance of interest due to not knowing what would come next.

"What in the hell did you just ask me?" While he wouldn't admit it his voice almost quivered in shock that he was even voicing such thoughts to his supreme commander.

The old man pondered a moment then leaned back, taking out his pipe. He slowly and meticulously filled it with tobacco, lit the end puffed it twice and set it down on his podium allowing the smoke to rise slowly for fifteen seconds. His face calm during this process suddenly grew hard.

"I did not ask you anything, Fugaku. I gave you an order, and you will follow it." Silence encompassed the room and all watched as Fugaku slowly went through a series of emotions, something rarely shown on his face in public, bared for all to see. It finished with resignation as he understood what was needed. Fugaku sat back down, apparently defeated in this endeavor.

"As I have no other matters to discuss this meeting is adjourned." The old man spoke with finality and authority rare in one so venerable.

The council members slowly left the room until only the Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, and the Captain of the Military Police Force, and head of the Uchiha Clan, Fugaku Uchiha, remained.

Silence was met between the two as they starred at each other. Finally Sarutobi waved his hand in the ai with a flourish, indicating to one of his ANBU stationed nearby to bring him a small cradle with a child inside.

Uzumaki Naruto, seventeen hours and fifty seven minutes old, the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the greatest of all the demons in the land. He lay almost unmoving asleep. Fugaku reluctantly walked up to the basket the child was in and lifted it gently. He then made as to leave for home when Sarutobi put a wrinkled hand on his shoulder.

"You are a very intelligent man, and I have no doubts you have already ascertained who his forebears were. Nobody is to find out. As stated in the meeting only the council shall know of his charge, and it is an S ranked secret." The wrinkled man paused for effect. "As far as the world is concerned he is the illegitimate child of an old comrade of the leader of the Uchiha, who at the request of the father's dying will asked for your family to be his charge. It is merely a favor to repay a battlefield debt to an old estranged friend. You may not have liked his father, you may even resent the boy for what he represents, but I will make this clear. No undue harm shall come to this boy, as long as you keep this to be true you may handle him as any other charge of the Uchiha."

Fugaku nodded and quietly left, his wife would not be particularly happy about the unexpected addition to the family, but thankfully he had already had a plan for such a scenario.

* * *

><p>The middle-aged Uchiha leader entered into his district with a purpose. With naught but a flare of chakra three of his aides were at his side.<p>

"Take this boy to my home, inform the missus that we have an unexpected 'gift' from an old colleague of mine that we will be taking care of." Without even a dismissal Fugaku walked toward the three story building in the direct center of the Uchiha district, the mansion of the Uchiha elders.

"Elder council, I am here to inform you of a grave situation. Mori Takahashi, my colleague from the academy who perished during the attack, has left behind a child. The child's mother died during labor and the will requested that I take him as a charge of the Uchiha Clan." He stated his case firmly, and though he did not practice the speech he conceived on his journey from the tower to his home, he had every confidence that it would be believed.

"This is preposterous!" a decrepit woman from the back file shouted. "For what reason should the great Uchiha clan listen to the last rites of some third-rate shinobi?" many of the elders in the room seemed to be of the same mind, though less vocal.

"Objection allowed." The booming voice of the man who presided over the council to ensure things did not get out of hand, the previous leader of the Uchiha, and Fugaku's father, Teppei Uchiha. "Present your case as to why this child should be our ward."

"He is the only son of a colleague from my academy days, who while I may be reluctant to admit it, I owed a debt." There were murmurs in the crowd that the current leader could be indebted to anyone in the village, let alone a rank and file shinobi. "During the Third great war we were assigned to the same platoon, and during an encounter I had grossly underestimated the capabilities of on of the enemy's siege weapons. His quick thinking saved all but one member of our squad, and left him greatly injured. As you know he lost all capability of fine motor control of his left leg during that battle, and it was my oversight that led to it." The council nodded knowing the horrors that occurred during the bloodiest of wars to date. "Though he was only performing his duty it was his act that saved my life, and as a man I could not go to my grave knowing I did not repay the only request he ever had of me."

Chatter filled the room as discussion took hold. Almost half an hour later the chatter died down, and the old woman who had previously spoken out rose and spoke.

"Objection withdrawn, we will accept this child as one of our own. However I request that you at least inform the council of any other 'debts' you may have acquired so that we are aware of them in the future." The latter half of the statement caused many in the room to chuckle slightly at the straight-faced humor presented. Within the council it was widely accepted that any weaknesses or debts of the leader should be on a need-to-know basis, in order to prevent any attempts at blackmail.

"Request denied." Fugaku spoke with a small amount of mirth at the old woman's strange sense of humor. "As there are no other topics to be handled at this time, you are dismissed."

Fugaku upon leaving called for his private contingent of intelligence officers, and quickly scribbled out something in code.

"Give this to the Hokage himself, and tell him it is in regards to a mission report involving the late Takahashi, and his newborn son."

* * *

><p>Fugaku approached his home to find his son Itachi holding his younger brother, and his wife holding the newborn Naruto standing at the gate.<p>

"Well seeing as you are both here already this will save time." He then pointed at the young Naruto. "He is the newest charge of the Uchiha clan, I have the intention of personally seeing to his integration into the clan as a favor to a now departed friend." His lie did not go unnoticed by his wife, though his son did not seem to notice or care. "He will be raised as both a confidant, and a protector, for young Sasuke. His service shall last until he enrolls in the ninja corps. proper, at which point we will allow him to move out if he so wishes." He then quickly decided an addendum to his prepared speech was needed. "I have also been informed that his mother's side has a latent bloodline that is likely to manifest, as such if anything strange seems to happen please immediately inform either myself or the Hokage, and we will take care of it. As a confidant to the younger heir of the main family he is to be treated properly, however he must also be trained in his duties as a protector as well." He then took the child who was now awake and cooing at who the infant was soon to see as a father figure.

After about an hour Itachi went off to prepare for his mission the next day. This left Fugaku alone with his wife.

"So what aren't you telling me?" The Uchiha matriarch asked coyly.

"Two S-ranked secrets, one of which you will likely figure out yourself, at which point please inform me as I will need to debrief you." He paused for a moment thoughtfully, which caused his wife to chuckle at his surprisingly childish sense of humor. "The other is for council ears only." He let out quite exasperated.

"Ah, is that so. I suppose having another mouth to feed won't be too troublesome. Please try to keep your new found habit of adopting orphans, whose parents you owed a favor, to a minimum." She said quite amused. Sometimes it bothered him how fast news got from the council room to his wife's ears. He chalked it up to the fact that, while those outside the compound would never know, the Uchiha women were avid gossips about clan affairs.


	2. Tragedy Strikes

"Hey Sasuke lookie what I got!" The small seven year old held a wooden crate with an open lid and hundreds of white porcelain masks. "I think this means I win again."

"No way, you must have cheated. It's only been two hours." The elder black haired boy offered belligerently.

"Nuh uh." the blond continued "You only said no ninja techniques, and no body enhancing chakra, I didn't do use either. I even went the extra mile and chose not to use any ninja tools." The blond stuck out his tongue at his oldest friend.

"So then tell me how you did it." Sasuke moved over to relieve the blond of the box of masks.

"It was really easy, first I had to figure out where they were getting them from. They apparently order them all from this manufacturing place in the southern district. They apparently always pick them up from a specific drop-off point. So after learning this, I just beat them to the chase." Naurto explained.

"And how exactly did you come to learn this?" The raven haired youth still disbelieving he had managed to acquire that info without using even a genjutsu.

"I may have 'accidentally' dropped a wad of cash nearby a pair of guards who just 'happened' to know 'someone' who 'used' to be in ANBU." He laughed as his friend's expression went to one of disbelief.

"You bribed them." he was incredulous, he couldn't believe that a family member of his, let alone his appointed confidant and best friend managed to think that bribery was an acceptable way to find out this information. "No way am I paying up, you totally cheated, hell you broke the law and I should report you." He took an aggressive stance staring at Naruto pointedly.

"First off, I didn't 'bribe' them, that would imply that I handed them cash in exchange for some sot of service, and I clearly explained that I accidentally dropped some money and overheard a conversation. Secondly even if I had bribed them it is hardly a ninja technique or use of chakra. Meaning deal is still on, now pay up."

"I can't believe this." the young Uchiha pulled out his wallet and slammed some money into the open palm of the blonde. "New rule, no lawbreaking." He said adamantly.

"No deal, if I can't use ninja skills AND I can't break any laws this stuff is impossible, you seem to forget that even minor stuff like littering is technically against the law, so I refuse to agree to a wager I cannot possibly win."

"Hmm. Fine, specifically no bribery then." The raven haired child retorted.

"No can do, the things you and your brother come up with are too risky with no way to shut people up." The blond remained adamant.

"You're just afraid you can't do it." Sasuke sneered, the jab clearly intended to rile Naurto up and get him to give in.

"Umm... Duh? You realize every single thing that has been pilfered, modified, 'lost', obtained, or otherwise been utilized for the sake of our bets has been under the noses of our villages ANBU and elite ninja right?" the blond was incredulous.

"All of whom are inferior to the Uchiha, who you are supposed to be a part of."

"First off, I may be a pat of the clan but I am genetically as far from you guys as possible and we are nearly tied in spars so I reject your first point. Second your brother and other Uchiha are members of ANBU and the ninja ranks so it is had to see the validity in your argument." Years of training by Fugaku to rationalize all points of an argument came to the forefront often when discussing things with his friend. Fortunately for Sasuke it was essentially his job to ensure that Sasuke wasn't overlooking crucial details. It was hard since Sasuke was by all rights very intelligent, and finding holes in his arguments was usually a grueling affair, if at all possible. Luckily, Sasuke was currently just making demands without really thinking through his statements beforehand, something Naruto was supposed to be grilling his friend for to ensure that such things did not happen while in front of potentially important figures that the Uchiha clan couldn't afford to lose face in front of.

"I hate it when you're right, but you are... We'll figure out the terms before the next one." He then went over to the box and confirmed that these were in fact a set of unpainted ANBU masks ready to be picked up by the organization.

"My turn, hmm." Naurto sat down on his knees in the seiza position deep in thought. What originally started as a harmless children's game of one-uppery, who could climb the tree faster, had quickly devolved after they started ninja training into who could pull off the more insanely difficult task. The wager was always both pride and a good chunk of allowance money, and while Sasuke had a significantly large number of wins under his belt, Naruto had been nearly undefeated for the last month. Their current string of dares had been exclusively reserved to things that would be asked of ninja to perform. Naruto had almost immediately started by having Sasuke perform an infiltration mission into the Jounin lounge and find some blackmail material on at least one of the senior ninja there. He had succeeded in a matter of two days by managing to sneak some 'bugs' inside the building while being given a tour by one of his family members who was more than happy to oblige the younger heir's request at seeing what the place was like. Since then they had moved primarily to thefts, heists, and capers of escalating intensity. While Sasuke was much stronger and generally more intelligent than his friend, Naruto was much more deceptive and willing to use underhanded means to achieve whatever he needed done.

"Both you you get over here NOW." Itachi who had suddenly appeared from the window nearly shouted. Itachi had occasionally taken part in their squabbles by coming up with dares for one or the other to perform when they couldn't come up with one themselves. It was rare that anything he suggested ended up getting accomplished, so it was allowed to be refused by either of them, but was worth double the cash if pulled off. This particular heist was in fact proposed by the elder Uchiha brother. He then proceeded to tie their arms up, blindfold them and pick them up. He then created a clone to carry the box, and with a brief muttering under his breath transported the children and the box to the Hokage's office.

* * *

><p>The Hokage was very aware of the two children's squabbles and dares. This was by and far not the first time that their antics had landed them here. However it was the first time that the Hokage was expecting them before the stunt was even pulled.<p>

"You two are to be placed in detainment cell G in the second cell block for minimum of twenty four hours for theft of vital village assets and resources." His voice was stern, though lacked the usual anger and frustration that the boys were used to. They simply looked at each other and shrugged, it wasn't particularly uncommon that this happened, and they new that within the hour Fugaku would have them out, scold them for lowering the Uchiha name, give a small beating labeled as a 'training' session, and be done with it.

* * *

><p>They were quickly escorted to the cells that could at this point be labeled as 'theirs' due to the number of times they had been in them. After the fifth hour they felt something was wrong.<p>

"Sasuke, your dad IS in town right?" the blond boy was slightly worried as the Uchiha patriarch was much later than usual.

"Don't ask stupid questions, he was there at breakfast with us." While his pride wouldn't allow him to admit it the young Uchiha was concerned.

"Yeah, but he has never been this late before." the blond replied.

"We DID just manage to steal a shipment of masks for the ninja black-ops... It is likely that he is either being berated for trying to get this swept under the rug." Sasuke thought aloud so that the blond could try and follow along.

"No way, if they were THAT important then it should have been way more costly to get the info. I barely paid them enough to pay rent for a month." The blond retorted angrily.

"HA! You admit that you bribed them! Give me back my money, you cheated!" The subject quickly changed gears.

"Not a chance. You already gave me the money, plus I didn't cheat. I may have broken the laws, but a certainly didn't break any rules so stick it!" The blond was adamant.

Silence reigned for a period as they both brooded.

"He really is late isn't he." The black haired child brought the topic full circle attempting to change the awkward silence back to discussion.

"Yeah..."

They sat for nearly another seven hours talking before finally deciding to sleep as it didn't seem that the clan leader would be there soon.

It came as a surprise when Sasuke awoke during the middle of the second day, still bound.

"Naruto! wake up, we're still locked up!" Sasuke's panic was quite unusual, though warranted.

"Fifteen more minutes, it's the weekend." The blond mumbled out in his sleep induced stupor.

"Damnit Naruto it is Tuesday already, plus we are still in these damnable cells!" his irritation peaked as his friend refused to awaken.

"Okay okay... I'm getting up alre-." He shot awake as he realized his head rested not on a pillow but the cold hard concrete of his cell. "We're still here." He sat solemnly pondering the implications. "Ji-ji wouldn't actually force us to stay here if Pops asked for us to be let go..." The blond got quiet as he began to think again.

"Before I make it a point to smack you for getting us into this mess, you can't go calling the Hokage Ji-ji, it is disrespectful, and if father ever hears you call him 'pops' I'm pretty sure he'd kill you on the spot." Sasuke spoke slightly hysterically, half from the fact of his nervousness at being locked up, and half from the way his friend spoke of important figures in the village.

Seven hours passed, the sun having gone down hours before, when the only door to the line of cells that only contained two prisoners was opened.

"Good news brats, you have a new cellmate... though why they're putting him in here is beyond me." The ANBU guard pushed forward a black haired man that they were both familiar with, eventually unlocking a cell next to theirs and forcing him in.

"Itachi!" the two shouted together. Though generally aloof and condescending it was very are for the elder boy to completely disregard them.

"Hey what's wrong with you?" Naruto prodded visibly upset that the young ANBU wouldn't respond.

"Naruto..." Sasuke prompted, causing the boy to look at him, Sasuke then pointed at his elder brother. "Look at him..."

Itachi Uchiha was in a state that the two had never seen him. He was thoroughly covered in blood, yet there were no wounds. His uniform tattered and ripped in several places, cuts along his sleeved from what must have been grazes that missed his flesh. The worst of all was his eyes. living in the Uchiha compound meant that they were both quite used to seeing the family's doujutsu active, they were even used to seeing it active on Itachi himself. But this was wrong, the three pronged dots that were supposed to be there were just completely absent, the ring connecting them missing as well. His pupil had somehow changed from a circular dot into some sort of deformed and dissected triangle. Worst of all was the blood. While the blood on his clothes and skin was blackish, dried, and presumably from somebody else, there was freshly congealing blood still dripping from his open eyes. The young children sat there just watching for a half hour, trying to piece together what must have happened, or what they could even presume to ask. Finally the silence was broken by none-other than Naruto himself.

"Why won't you look at us!" Naruto finally shouted "You don't say a thing, you don't resist, you don't even BLINK!" his anger palpable at this point. "Being an asshole is one thing, being introverted is expected, but what the fuck are you doing just sitting there! Tell us what happened!" At his command the elder Uchiha finally moved for the first time since he was imprisoned here. Sitting up and staring right at the one who prodded him so loudly, he spoke in a monotone that lacked any sort of emotion.

"Shut up." His eyes widening in a concentrated stare. A knock on the door interrupted whatever he was thinking and the guard opened it and quickly went down the hall. Itachi immediately moved into action at this, standing despite being bound and shackled. He looked at the wall behind him in his cell, a new trail of blood began to leak from his right eye, and the wall simply melted in a burst of black flames. He spoke as he stepped through the new hole in the wall. "I am the least of your concerns at the moment. Ask your dear leader what happened." he began to move again but quickly stopped himself and made one last remark before running through the new exit. "I am not sorry for what has happened, it was exactly what I needed. You will grow to hate me, use it wisely." He then exited in a blur, seconds later screams could be heard, the village-wide alarm was signaled and several explosions sounded. Immediately afterwords the door slammed open and the Hokage was standing there, a full squad of ANBU there with him.

The Hokage looked at the two boys who appeared unharmed but still quite shocked. "Small miracles I suppose..." he muttered before facing the two. "Get up, we don't have room in this prison for teaching young idiots lessons at the moment." The Hokage signaled the ANBU, who immediately released the children. "Come with me." Neither Sasuke nor Naruto saw any reason to bother arguing.

* * *

><p>Trekking through the streets on the way to the tower the boys noticed two things, the wanton destruction that seemed to be around most of the village, and the complete lack of any of the military police about trying to handle things. After finally making it to the Hokage's chambers the old leader sat down with a sigh, taking the lit pipe in his mouth and setting it aside. He waited for them to start asking questions, but apparently the shock was to much for them. He decided he needed to get this conversation over with.<p>

"I have bad news. The Uchiha clan is dead."


	3. Ethical Dilemma

Dead, Adjective; Deprived of life: No longer Alive. Despite knowing the meaning of the word, and despite having the comprehension and understanding to use the word properly, two intelligent children were left dumbfounded by it. Simple concepts are often the hardest to grasp when faced with them in a real sense rather than just an abstract or theoretical one. If asked at that moment to define the word the only thing that either one could come up with as an answer was in fact another simple, yet profound abstract concept.

"Impossible." Both boys shuddered as they simultaneously uttered the word at the same time. After a moment it was only Sasuke who spoke."The Uchiha clan can't be dead. They are the mightiest clan in all of Konoha, which is the strongest village in the world, which makes them the de facto strongest clan in the world." Despite hearing himself both think and say these words, words he wholeheartedly believed to be true from the bottom of his heart and his mind, he heard them ring hollow. He knew, not in some actual sense based on fact or empirical observation, but deep in his soul he felt it. The Uchiha were no longer of this world.

"Jiji how could the Uchiha be dead? Sasuke is here, and we just saw Itachi, and they are Uchiha, so the Uchiha clan are..." It hit him as he paused, his eyes squinted in concentration as he remembered several facts drilled into him by his surrogate father Fugaku. The old Hokage watched the young man as he worked out some sort of problem in his head, and silently patted his own back knowing that it was his quick thinking that allowed the boy to be raised in an environment conducive to the type of thought he now showed. "How many are left?" his question left Sasuke confused and speechless, while intelligent, it tended to be hard to follow the blonde's logic, especially when it pertained to knowledge of subjects he knew nothing about, and that he was given no context for.

"I won't sugar coat it for you." Sarutobi's expression turned stony as he made his next statement "Well over ninety nine percent of the clan is gone, there are just over twenty in the ICU who are not long for this world, and three whose condition are deteriorating fast. Without the help of my former student they are also going to die in the coming days. Even with conservative estimates I don't see any of them making it through this, which means that only the living and uninjured Uchiha are left."

"Stop speaking in circles old man. How Many!" After finally catching up to what the two were talking about Sasuke's irritation, combined with his surprise, got the better of the normally stoic son of the Uchiha's leader.

"Two." The Hokage stated in finality. It took nearly a minute before it occurred to both of them what this meant. Sasuke was standing right here, and they had seen Itachi earlier that day. That was it, the two sons of Fugaku Uchiha, leader of the military police force and Head of the Uchiha clan, were the only Uchiha left.

"The ones in the hospital, there must be some way to save them right?" Sasuke for the first time in his life was truly frantic, simply saying whatever thoughts came into his head without thinking about the details first. Sasuke felt a warmth on his shoulder, he looked to see Naruto, the most careless happy-go-lucky person he had ever met, with a solemn look of finality on his face.

"I will be making a public announcement regarding the Uchiha district tomorrow, but for now you should head home. I sent for someone to clean up the Uchiha head household though I do not know if it will be finished by the time you arrive."

Niether Naruto nor Sasuke slept well that night. The combination of the lingering smell of blood and death that permeated the entire compound, and the dust and debris hanging in the air of the building they decided to stay the night in, which was actually just the first building they saw that didn't look ready to collapse in on itself.

* * *

><p>It was a strange feeling walking to the academy knowing that the village ninja were on a heightened state of alert due to the recent attack. Despite this the Hokage decided that classes wouldn't be canceled. As they walked through the gate to the academy two things were brought to the forefront of the two boys' minds. First and foremost was the large contingent of higher level ninja on the premises, there were fifteen chunin present, and four jonin out in the open. Second was that the rest of the students, as well as the teachers, were all gathered outside in front of the school.<p>

After twenty minutes the Hokage arrived, he immediately, used a technique to create a platform and podium out of stone. Typically most ninja felt using their chakra for such petty things was wasteful, but 'The Professor' was well known for using whatever he had at his immediate disposal to get things done, even if it meant using combat techniques for rather mundane purposes. After a not-so-subtle nonverbal prompting from their esteemed leader a handful of the ninja present formed rows of benches using the same technique the Hokage had. In short order there were nearly a hundred aisles worth of stone seats, the courtyard that frequently served as a playground for ninja in training during their break periods looked much more like the lecture halls inside the building than many were comfortable with. Despite that dreary concept all the students happily piled into the closest seat, it was not every day that the Hokage himself gave a speech, let alone one that was apparently to be addressed to the students directly. After all present were seated the Hokage finally spoke.

"As you all know the village was recently attacked. Many of our finest ninja have perished, or have been critically injured. Among them are some prominent figures from Konoha's honorable clans. I am told that as of today four members of the Hyuuga elder council, five senior councilmen, two Aburame minor house leaders, and many others were killed. Worst of all however appears to be to the Uchiha." This statement brought up many murmurs amongst the crowd. The Uchiha were known as great fighters, and difficult to defeat even with a group of highly trained ninja, due primarily to the wonders of their famed Doujutsu, the Sharingan Eye. "Almost the entire Uchiha clan was slaughtered, and due to safety protocol I can not, and will not, say exactly how many survived. What I will say is that as of this moment Sasuke Uchiha is the only surviving member of the Uchiha's ruling family. As such he will soon be assuming the duty and authority of clan head and leader. Due to his age however it has been decided that the Uchiha clan will cease all non-clan functions effective immediately, with the sole exclusion of ninja duties for the village." This rose some eyebrows, most notably those of one Uchiha Sasuke. Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed as he prepared for the most important part of his speech today. "Due to the damage sustained, and the number of high ranking ninja injured in this event a large series of changes in village policy are about to unfold. Most directly affecting all of you present is a change in how the ninja academy will be run."At this the Hokage stepped down and allowed Umino Iruka to take the stand.

"Due to the recent attack, and decisions made by the council the following changes to the standard procedures and curriculum will take place effective immediately. First, in addition to the current courses and schoolwork firsthand experience will be required of all students. To allow for this a change to the traditional team structure for lower ranked ninja will be put in place. Since time immemorial genin teams have consisted of three genin and a Jonin instructor. Starting now the village hidden in the leaf will be abandoning the traditional team structure in place of what will more closely resemble a military squadron. Each squadron will be composed of two genin teams, one green and one experienced, two chunin to instruct and guide them and one Jonin who will be in charge of the entire unit. In addition some squads may have a team of academy students in place of a junior genin team, and some squads will have students as additional members to their squad. These teams will meet for training and missions, however at the Jonin's discretion the team may be split and rearranged for these activities." Iruka paused after the longest portion of his speech in order to try and gauge the reaction of those listening. As predicted they were mostly surprised, but surprisingly there was very little apprehension to the changes. "Teams will be announced and rearranged twice a year coinciding with the spring and autumn solstice."

As the various Jonin left it was not so subtly implied that the various students were dismissed. Sasuke made to leave but noticed Naruto was stock-still. Naruto quickly noticed his being watched after about a minute, and promptly told the Uchiha boy to head home first. After Sasuke left the blond haired boy made his way toward his teacher, Umino Iruka. He stood watching the scarred Chunin talk to some of the other staff members and overheard them talking about 'genin practice teams', he used this tidbit to formulate his approach to the conversation he was about to engage. After finally getting his teacher's attention he spoke. "You didn't hear this from me, but when you do your 'arrangements' for practice teams assignments for genin testing you might want to go ahead and assume that NONE of your Uchiha students other than Sasuke will be participating." The scarred chunin nodded at the unspoken message portrayed by these words.

"Thanks for the heads up." After noticing the young man still standing before him he realized what was coming. "I take it you are going to want something in exchange for the hours of time and planning that just got saved due to your 'lack of commenting'?". Naruto flashed a grin that threatened to split his face in half, then chuckled. While Iruka may have been the best teacher that either Sasuke, Naruto, or at the blonde's guess ANY academy student had the fortune of learning under, he certainly understood that this particular ninja-to-be never did any favors for free.

Naruto looked up at his teacher with a hardened expression, a remnant of the seemingly endless month that was Naruto's introduction to the deal making and social arts instilled in him by first Fugaku Uchiha, and then his eldest son Itachi. While he many times wondered how those two thought the draconian methods they used could possibly leave him capable it certainly appeared to have worked. "Actually I need a pair of favors. First, put Sasuke and I in the same group whenever you can manage it, and under no circumstances are we to be paired with any of those damned harpies that have wasted so much of theirs and our time with their screeching howls and attempts to woo a certain black haired heir."

Iruka pondered these requests, in all honesty he would have likely done the second request without being asked, but he knew Naruto and knew that whatever the boy was going to offer in return for this pair of requests would likely be worth guaranteeing that he didn't put them in groups with those young 'harpies' as Naruto so kindly put it. Ensuring that he was in Sasuke's groups would actually make that even easier. "I'll bite, and what will I be getting in return for the second request?"

"I'll do whatever I can to ensure you will be able to visit the Uchiha students that are currently in the Isolation Wing at the hospital, and I'll do what I can do get it done quickly." He replied without missing a beat. In all honesty Iruka was appalled by this young man's willingness to break procedures and protocols put in place to protect important individuals who were at death's door, especially in exchange for favors as minor as he was requesting. He then realized that this was an offer he simply couldn't refuse despite it being against every fiber of his ethics as an instructor. It was common knowledge that the chunin loved his students, but he never considered that it would be used against him in such away. Even worse was that it was by someone many years his junior, and that he wasn't even considering reporting this to his village leader. Iruka as the head instructor knew the curriculum inside and out, and politics was not discussed whatsoever in the academy. It occurred to him that whoever taught this boy the ins and outs of political machinations and subterfuge clearly did a good job.


	4. Sigma Mu

Iruka pondered the idea of rejecting the offer, but ultimately decided that in this particular instance he didn't care too much about what protocol or the code of ethics for teachers said. If it meant that he would get to see his students, he was willing to take that risk. With this thought his resolve hardened even faster when he realized that at least some of them would be on death's door. "You've got yourself a deal." He paused then said "But only after I get to see them." The blonde's cheerful demeanor waned for a brief moment, but he quickly resumed his smiling facade.

"Sure, check in this weekend. I should have it all sorted out by then.

* * *

><p>Sasuke usually didn't make a habit of arriving at places before he needed to. His father has simultaneously stressed the importance of punctuality, and of taking as long as possible. The former because it was beneath those of his class, and the latter as it forced people to be on their toes. Nonetheless he arrived at the ruined district that was his home in nearly record time. He knew he only had about an hour before his blonde haired friend-slash-advisor came back and began Sasuke on what he assumed would be near mountains of forms and paperwork that he would now be responsible for as acting head of the clan.<p>

* * *

><p>Naruto Arrived at the compound not thirty minutes after speaking with Iruka. After a quick word with the hospital staff the Hokage arrived for similar reasons. The mischievous blonde used the opportunity to get the aged leader's permission to requisition the necessary documents for visitation privileges.<p>

On his way to the compound he picked up some ramen to go from Ichiraku's. He didn't particularly care about food so long as it was nourishing and tasted even remotely good. The quaint little ramen bar was only frequented by the blonde because he knew how much Sasuke disliked their food. Gleaning this little fact made it Naruto's go-to place for food on the go ever since. As both the raven-haired boy's confidant and friend he felt it was both his privilege and duty to do anything and everything he could to irritate, enrage, confuse, befuddle, stupefy, or otherwise get under the skin of the Uchiha heir.

He strolled into the home at a gait, a quick sniff of the air told him the general location of the young lad he was looking for. Quieting his steps as he ascended the stairs he noticed the old bedroom of the elder main family sibling. The door ajar and slight candle light gleamed through the slit between door and frame. The fact that the lights weren't being used meant that Sasuke was either unsuccessful at restarting the main breaker, or never even bothered to try. Naruto suspected the latter on account of neither of them ever having to fix it before.

"I brought food." The blonde tried to no avail to get a response, Naruto cracked the door open to see his brother in all but blood reading on the dirty tatami mats, outright furious and with tears streaming down his cheeks.

"He killed them... He killed the clan, he threatened them and then killed them." Naruto blinked with no comment this sounded like nothing more than the ravings of a madman.

"Sasuke I don't understand what you are-" he was stopped by Sasuke handing him a scroll. He then began to read,

_Mission assignment 00178. By order of the Bloodlord._

_You, operative Sigma Mu 1, Uchiha Itachi are to do as follows. _

_I. Utilizing the information in the Uchiha scrolls acquire the Mangekyo Sharingan. _  
><em>II. After acquiring the Mangekyo, demonstrate its powers to the various Uchiha clan branch leaders.<em>  
><em>III. Attempt to persuade them to either the Mangekyo themselves or to defect to the aid of the Bloodlord. Should they choose the latter you are to secretly escort them up to the Bloodlands. Should they choose to acquire the Mangekyo Sharingan, you are to assassinate them and steal their bodies away for transport.<em>

After this join up with operative Beta Mu zero, Hyuuga Hizashi, help him carry out his objectives. Do not destroy this message it is to be left to serve as a warning message for anyone who survives the upcoming assault.

_-Praise be to him who hath shown us direction._

At the end of the message was a seal stamped in blood it appeared to be a very stylized character for the word blood.

Naruto's veins boiled his sight faded to red. His thoughts grew dull, and his senses only thought was of the gruesome ways he would tear the man who he felt was like an elder brother to him in twain. Sasuke could actually feel the pulsation of Naruto's chakra. Naruto's eyes appeared to shift from their normal cerulean to a deep violet. The whisker marks on his face grew deep, his breathing ragged, and his hair standing on end. Then the feeling of struck home, killer intent unlike anything he had ever dreamed of washed over him, and his friend visibly began to leak a stream of red.

"Naruto!" Sasuke snapped, he had seen his friend like this once before, and it had taken both his father and brother over ten minutes to subdue him. It had only ended when Sasuke spoke to him. Sasuke's voice rang in his ears for what seemed to Naruto to be hours. After a minute Naruto had begun to regain control of his senses. As the chatter in his mind faded he noticed something he hadn't earlier. It was a faint mewling sound much like an injured cub, and it was coming from inside the house.

Without a word Naruto bolted for Fugaku's study. When he finally entered he tried to locate the source of the sound. Closing his eyes to focus he found he could no longer hear it, but now that he was focusing on his senses other than sight, he smelled something. A pungent odor that smelled very distinctly in contrast to the blood and death that hung in the air all over the compound. It was the smell of bleach, or maybe ammonia, but certainly some sort of cleaning agent. Following the smell through the room he noticed it was stronger right in front of the shelves of the bookcase. Naruto quickly called Sasuke over and had him help in removing the books.

Halfway through taking out the books Naruto noticed a mark he had grown very familiar with under the tutelage of the head of the family.

"Go grab the clan head's seal." Sasuke normally didn't take well to orders from those who were not his explicit superiors, but the blonde had always been an exception. Though Sasuke would scoff at the thought, he probably trusted his only friend with his life.

* * *

><p>Two minutes later Sasuke returned, seal in hand. Naruto quickly snatched the little ring of porcelain from his friend's hand and fitted it to the metal plate in the bookshelf that had an embossing the exact reverse of the ring he now held. Several seconds went by with nothing happening. Puzzled, the blonde boy retracted the ring from the metal plate and stared at it incredulously. "Well that doesn't make any sense, this should have done SOMETHING. How are we supposed to figure out what is behind this bookcase then?" After a moment he noticed the Uchiha's eyes were glossed over, as if stuck in thought. The black haired boy finally snapped back to lucidity and with motion that mimicked the blonde he snatched the ring from his grasp. Putting the ring onto his index finger Sasuke flashed through the hand signs of the only techniques his father ever directly taught him.<p>

"Grand Fireball!" Sasuke shouted and then let out a stream of fire from his mouth onto the bookcase. Naruto went wide-eyed trying to discern what good burning down his house would do. As he was about to ask the marginally older boy what he was thinking he noticed two things that left him speechless. The first was that despite being pounded with a scorching hot live flame the wooden bookcase was unharmed. The second was that said bookcase was glowing with thousands of florescent blue runes. As soon as the fireball died down Sasuke touched the signet ring to the metal plate implanted in the rune covered bookcase. As soon as the ring met metal the young Uchiha gasped in pain. Naruto immediately tried to pry his friend from the wall, when that didn't work he tried to remove the ring. This also ended in failure. Somehow the vitreous clay ring had fused itself to the metal plate, with Sasuke still wearing it. As he struggled to pull his friend free he felt his hands burn against Sasuke's bare flesh, looking at where his hands touched the other boy he noticed that Sasuke appeared to be burning alive, his skin marred all over, yet no flame was visible. Naruto was struck dumb trying to think of how to save his sizzling friend when he heard a voice he was all too familiar with speak.

"State your name and lineage, or burn to death." The monotone of Fugaku's voice emanated from the wall. At the end of the dead clan leader's request Sasuke stopped screaming and opened his eyes. To Naruto's surprise they were blood red, with two small dots spinning rapidly around the iris. In a calm and soft voice the pale red-eyed boy spoke.

"I am Uchiha Sasuke, son of the main house." At this the azure glow of the runes turned a deep red, then pitch black, then the runes appeared to crawl into the wall behind the bookcase.

The bookcase wall sank into the ground, as soon as the top of it sunk into the ground Sasuke collapsed. Naruto dove to catch the boy before he hit the ground. After spending a full minute of checking over the body of the Uchiha Heir he noticed the flesh he watched burn before his eyes was scabbed over slightly, as if several weeks worth of healing had just taken place. Sasuke quickly regained consciousness and stared at Naruto. Sasuke noticed something out of place, Naruto was staring at him, and he was covered in a pale blue haze that darkened and shifted violently around his stomach. Before the unaware Sharingan user could think of what to say, the blonde spoke.

"Sasuke, you have got to see this!" The blonde was ecstatic and appeared was grinning while pointing at the Uchiha's face. With a small glance around the room he found a mirror sitting on the northern wall pointing to it he directed the blonde's attention to the mirror. Naruto got up to retrieve the mirror, it took him a second of wiggling before he realized he would need to force it off. rather than disturb one of the few places left mostly intact after the invasion he decided it was prudent to bring the fallen boy to the mirror, rather than the other way around. Hopping back over to his fallen friend Naruto lifted him up in a fireman's carry and brought him to the mirror. Sasuke looked at his reflection and saw two blood-red eyes staring back at him.

"The Sharingan..." Naruto reached over to the chair behind the desk and pulled it over in front of the mirror, then sat Sasuke down so he could look at it. While Sasuke soot enraptured by his own mysterious bloodline limit Naruto took the opportunity to take a peek at where the bookcase once stood. There was now a perfectly stark white antechamber with a raised platform in the middle of it. Poking out the top of the platform appeared to be a wooden ladder. Going over to examine the ladder and where it led Naruto spent a good twenty seconds trying to figure out where it could lead. Realizing that he had an intelligent young man sitting nearby he figured he would invoke some old commoner's wisdom involving two heads.

"Sasuke, I know you really really want to make sure your makeup looks pretty but I think it can wait until we check out what is down there." At his last word the blonde pointed to the ladder leading down into an unknown area of the main house. Sasuke took one last peek at his visage, then stood up and managed to walk unassisted, though wobbly, to where the blonde was pointing.


	5. Wagers

The two young boys reached the bottom after climbing down about twenty feet and noticed that the bleach white hallway was somehow lit, but they could not discern how. The long corridor went for about fifty feet before ending with a door. They traversed the hallway in seconds. When they were finally upon the lone door in the hallway Naruto made a move to attempt to open it. Naruto's hands less than an inch away were stopped by the forceful grasp of Sasuke.

"There is chakra all over this door. If you consider what the bookcase did to me, then I don't think it is a great idea for a non-Uchiha to be touching anything." Naruto merely pouted visibly at this, but acquiesced after pausing for a moment to consider his friend's point. Sasuke took a moment to see if he could tell where the chakra on this door was coming from, and hopefully what it did. Failing utterly to comprehend the various moving colors denoting chakra he simply opened the door.

What lay beyond the door looked like some mangled combination of a laboratory, a nursery, and a library. In the corner of the nursery was a small child, a newborn of all things. The small child could not be more than a couple weeks old, and was hooked up to some sort of machine. Sasuke decided to take charge of his two man 'team' at this point.

"Go look around and see if you can figure out what this place is." Naruto sneered slightly behind his friend's back as he was already doing just that.

Moving over to the desk in the laboratory, Sasuke walked slowly to the little child and noticed a shock of pitch black hair, and the distinctive blue and white footie pajamas favored by the Uchiha clan's upper house families. The child was asleep, so Sasuke decided to examine the machine that the babe was strapped into. It appeared to be some sort of chamber made of crystal and glass, with several small tubes that led from various places to the child inside. After looking around a bit longer Sasuke found a container of what looked like the fluid used at hospitals that was dripped into veins, and a tube carrying the liquid to the baby. On top of the glass was a clipboard. He picked it up and read it quietly aloud to himself. "Saigo Uchiha, male, blood type O negative" His eyes drifted down the page. The mother's name appeared to be redacted and no father was listed. Most of the rest of the document was medical information that Sasuke had neither the skill nor desire to decipher. It was when he hit the third page that he stopped skimming. In bold letters was a statement he could not believe. _Born at zero one hundred hours with blood red sclera and what appears to be an active Sharingan. Feed chakra-rich solution through IV until further notice._Sasuke's mind could not comprehend the simple sentences before him.

The Uchiha heir was finally brought out of his stupor caused by a single sentence when he heard a scream. He immediately noticed that the small baby was awake. The child's eyes were open and the Sharingan was present. He also noticed that something was clearly wrong, as the second son of the leader of the Uchiha clan he was extremely familiar with the sight of the Sharingan. He was well aware of many small differences that could occur as the Sharingan matured. The eyes on this baby were nothing like what he was used to seeing, he had only seen eyes like this a single time. On the night his brother broke out of prison.

Upon closer inspection Sasuke realized he was off-mark thinking they were the same as his brother's. Where his brother's eyes had the pupil stretched out to touch the tomoe with curved lines, Saigo's Pupils had straight bars running from them. Itachi's eyes took on a pinwheel-like appearance with three fins. This child's eyes appeared to be almost like a series of circles filling in a triad of triangles.

After gazing into those strange eyes for a while Sasuke finally thought to find his blonde friend. Turning to face the 'laboratory' his friend had engaged in examining he noticed that Naruto was nowhere to be seen. "Dobe, where are you at? If you think you are going to sneak up on me in here I know that you know better." Before going to find the blonde he took one last look at Saigo. As he turned he startled at the feel of a hand cupped over his eyes and a blade at his throat. He flung his hands up and let out a sigh of exasperation. "Ok Naruto you got me, now put away th-" Sasuke was interrupted by the blade cutting into his flesh.

"I am not prone to giving advice but I would recommend that you refrain from talking if you wish to live even a little bit longer." A soft rasping monotone echoed in the room. Sasuke recognized the voice, but the adrenaline coursing through his veins was clouding his thoughts enough to make him forget just whose voice he was remembering. He was suddenly spun around in place and his eyes forcefully opened long enough to see a glowing and spinning red eye.

"I" was the only sound he managed to utter before collapsing to the ground.

* * *

><p>Sarutobi Hiruzen, is the third Hokage of the village hidden in the leaves. He was trained by the second Hokage, the brother of the first. Sarutobi was known as the Professor for his extensive knowledge of all types of ninjutsu. He had fought in two great wars, and was even the leader of his village in the latter one. He was the teacher of the Densetsu No Sannin, three of the greatest ninja to ever live. One of the Sannin, Jiraiya, was the teacher of Sarutobi's replacement, the fourth Hokage. Even after his retirement Sarutobi served his village as an advisor, and when calamity struck from an attack by the Kyuubi, revered as the most powerful of the tailed beasts, he himself had lead the force whose job it was to keep the monster at bay long enough for a proper plan to stop it had been made. He had sent thousands of his own friends and colleagues on the missions that cost them their lives. Despite all of his accomplishments there was one great weakness of his. He simply could not properly handle his one female student. He could devise counterstrategies to win losing battles, such that there were no casualties despite scarce resources. Yet no matter how he tried he was incapable of convincing his student to stay in the village for any reasonable length of time.<p>

"Please Tsunade, at least do us the kindness of staying in town. Even just the morale from having you here would help!" The Sandaime Hokage, leader of the strongest hidden village in the five elemental nations was forced to resort to mere pleading.

The strikingly young looking woman pondered a bit and finally conceded. "Look sensei, I'll make you a deal. One hand of poker, you win I'll do as you ask, I win I'm on my way and you pay off my outstanding debts."

Had the old man not known Tsunade her entire adult life he would have thought this a joke. Sadly, however, he knew she was dead serious. The venerable leader opened up a drawer in his desk and pulled out his pipe and an extremely old and worn deck of cards. Tsunade was quite familiar with this particular deck of cards. The man sitting in front of her shuffling had made this deck years ago in order to help her team with chakra control. Every card had a seal arrangement that allows someone with precise chakra control to identify what the cards are without seeing them, utilizing only their chakra. Despite having much better control than her teacher due to her training as a medic ninja, his knowledge of chakra theory and seals have him an edge that made him nigh impossible to defeat when using this deck. With just a touch of his energy he could instantly identify the arrangement of the entire deck. By using precise chakra control and a little dexterity he was easily capable of stacking the entire deck while shuffling.

"Sensei, do you really think I am going to agree to play with that deck?" The buxom blond went from having her feet flat on the ground to a crossed legged position with her arms crossed to mirror it.

"As the one who set the terms of the wager I think you will. I will however concede that it might be unfair, as such I will allow you two minutes to shuffle the deck yourself. After which I will cut the deck twice." Tsunade smiled at this. Two minutes would be more than enough time for the blonde ex-medic to stack the deck in her favor. With only two cuts she really didn't see how he could possibly hope to undo her work of shuffling. As he handed her the stack of cards she closed her eyes to better allow herself to feel the way the chakra in the seals on the cards moved. She began to identify the cards she wanted for her hand. It took her nearly a full minute to re-familiarize herself with the unique seal designs on the cards. Despite her appearance she was well over fifty, and it had been close to a decade since she last played with this set of cards. As she passed the deck back to her one time mentor for him to cut she had just barely manages to stack the deck so that no matter how Sarutobi cut it she would be dealing herself a hand of either an ace high flush, a straight flush, or a royal flush. She had managed to also ensure that Sarutobi would end up with either a full house or two pair. Just as the two venerable shinobi were ready to look at their hands A young mop-haired boy burst into the Hokage's office out of breath and carrying an unconscious Uchiha Sasuke.

"Old man, something is wrong!"


	6. The Surrogate

Sasuke awoke and appeared to be flying above the Uchiha district, he could feel his body moving without his guidance and je was unable to assert control over his movement. He was falling from an immense height, when he was just fifty feet from the ground he heard an explosion. Taking this as some sort of subconscious cue he focused chakra to his eyes to activate his Sharingan, and to his legs to try and stick himself to the wall of the building below him before he hit the ground. His chakra flared and the whole world seemed to be cast into slow motion. Now just forty feet from the ground he felt as if he was falling at a feather's pace. WIth his enhanced senses and lack of feeling of urgency he scanned the horizon, he saw hundreds of blue human shaped blobs throughout the district and dozens of large chakra clouds that he somehow intuitively identified as from explosive tags. The Uchiha Military Police were apparently out in full force rushing towards each and every explosion site. When he finally thought to look back down he was already attaching himself to the building's wall with his feet, with a practiced ease. When his chakra settled and his footing was sure he quickly performed a basic camouflage technique. He then closed his eyes and slowed his breathing. He waited nearly five minutes before he heard the village alarm that signifies the village's being under attack. At this sound he opened his eyes and released his chakra, allowing himself to fall to the ground. He shifted into a run and headed for the main family's compound, his home. Standing at the entrance was his father. Fugaku gave a condescending glare to his son. When he landed the Uchiha heir bowed to his elder and was promptly slapped in the face.

"Your lateness shames us all. As my son I expect much better of you." At that moment Fugaku went into motion, throwing a pair of shuriken and killing two hidden assailers. Turning towards the house proper he said. "Come, we must ensure that the others are safe."

They made their way inside. Fugaku swiftly led him to the sealed antechamber where he had hidden away his wife. As they made their way to the end of the hall Fugau reached to open the door. The clan head found he could not move to finish his motion. When he looked at his hand he noticed a long katana blade protruding from his chest. He fell to the ground without even the thud a falling body is expected to make.

Sasuke could not help but think, _What have I done?_ Even while fighting with his entire being to try and save his dying father he felt his hands flowing through hand seals. After a short moment he heard a puff, likely from the small cloud of smoke that appeared in front of him indicating a summoning.

"Well done Sigma. Our lord will be pleased." Sasuke watched as some Hyuuga sealed the body of the head of the Uchiha clan away. Seeing the task completed Sasuke spoke.

"Otori, Seizan, and _that_ child are the only ones remaining to be acquired." Sasuke could feel his lips moving and his vocal cords vibrating out this message, yet the sound of the voice was not his own. Even so the sound was unbelievably familiar to his ears.

"Byakugan!" The Hyuuga's veins bulged for a moment then receded. "Otori and Seizan are both fighting by the daycare." The Hyuuga moved to open the door that ended the small hallway.  
>"Leave him." once again Sasuke found himself speaking in another's voice.<p>

"Getting sentimental _now_ of all times?" The Hyuuga's normally stoic face had a look of incredulity.

"He will not be going anywhere, and if those fools get themselves killed before we get there we may lose our chance to preserve their bodies." At this the Hyuuga's expression became stoic once more as he replied with a nod in assent to the other man's point. Sasuke felt himself turn to leave when his wrist was grabbed roughly by the Hyuuga.

"Hold on." The Uchiha's head turned to look at the white eyed man who just spoke. As he turned he noticed the flow of chakra in the white eyed man's hands. "Kage bunshin, this way we can get them both at the same time." The Uchiha nodded while flying through the hand seals for the clone technique. With a soft pop there was an exact clone of the male Uchiha. Turning to look at his creation he saw something that turned his blood cold. The clone was that of Itachi Uchiha.

Sasuke continued to live out the day of the attack on Konoha, he felt every muscle in the body of Itachi as the elder brother slew his clan members left and right. He felt his adrenaline boil in his blood as he fought a losing battle against the God of Ninja, the third Hokage. He knew the exact chakra manipulations of techniques he had never seen. He murdered more civilians than he had ever actually met in person. Finally after a two hour game of cat and mouse with the leader of the hidden leaf village he was finally captured.

It was the sound of Sasuke's own voice that woke him from the detachment to his own five senses. He listened to his own voice speaking to him. For the first time since he fell from the sky he felt his body do as he wanted it to. His chakra flared, his eyes burned, thick viscous tears streamed down his face, and then only blackness.

Sasuke awoke from the blackness to the feeling of falling from the sky...

* * *

><p>The aged Hokage puffed his pipe to calm himself, then looked at Tsunade with a wry smile. "I suppose when I win I'll have that young boy there be your first patient." The wizened ninja pointed to the unconscious boy. Tsunade glared at her teacher, he was well aware that she had long desired to get to work on the Sharingan in order to see how it worked. She smiled and then retorted.<p>

"When _I_ win I suppose I'll look at the kid in exchange for a nice sum to gamble with after I leave here."

Without discarding and cards to draw again Tsunade flipped over her hand of cards that she hadn't even looked at. Face up on the table in front of her were the six of clubs, six of spades, nine of hearts, three of diamonds and nine of diamonds. Tsunade stared at her cards flabbergasted. The Hokage flipped his own hand face up on the table, ten, jack, queen, king, and ace all of spades. The female Sannin glared daggers at her teacher.

"You cheated!" The ex-medic's hands slammed the table with an audible groan from the wood. The Hokage calmly took another puff of his pipe and responded.

"You are the one who stacked the deck _for_ me, though I _may_ have helped you do it. For a student of mine you really show know better than to close your eyes to focus on your chakra, it makes it much easier for you to get snared in an illusion." Tsunade's eyes widened at the revelation as to how she lost, she promptly smashed the already injured table with her fist, then went over to the fallen Uchiha. A blue glow surrounded her hands as she waved them over the unconscious boy. At this the young demon container finally piped up.

"I don't mean to question my leader old man, but who is this lady?" Sarutobi smiled at the young boy as he responded.

"That _lady_ you are referring to is one of my old students. The Slug Sannin Tsunade. Naruto's eyes dulled as he accessed the information that had been drilled into his head by the old leader of the Uchiha.

"Tsunade Senju, granddaughter of the Shodai Hokage. Former teammate of Jiraiya and Orochimaru. Known as the greatest medical ninja to have ever lived. Purported to have left the village after the death of her brother and fiance." Naruto wasn't even actively thinking as he rattled off the information. After stating the last part, however, he regained lucidity. "If she left the village then why is she here?"

"An old man _ordered_ her to come back and help a hurting patient." Sarutobi then looked at Naruto soberly. The blonde looked at the strange expression on his elder's face. It took the boy a moment before he connected the dots.

"The patient is the village, and you are obviously an old man, but that doesn't explain why you were here plating poker just now rather than having her at the hospital."  
>The hokage was just about to reply when the subject of the conversation interrupted them. "I foolishly agreed to come back on a more permanent basis if he managed to beat me at a hand of poker... I guess they don't call me the legendary sucker for nothing." If the statement was intended to make the situation even less clear to the younger blonde then Naruto believed she had certainly succeeded. While he was still trying to figure out what she meant, she abruptly stood up and announced in a professional tone. "Kid here." at this the slug summoner pointed at Sasuke. "Must be under some sort of genjutsu. His is physically fine, but his chakra pathways are completely messed with, and saturated with some foreign chakra. Never met an illusionist who could continue an illusion on an unconscious person before." At this she looked at Naruto. "You do this to him?" Naruto's face went sour.<p>

"No. We were..." He cut himself off with a pause, then turned to face the Hokage. "Old man, sorry about this. As a representative of the Uchiha, who is privy to clan secrets I must reject this line of questioning as a matter of clan security." For the first time, to Naruto's memory, the Hokage's face went from a lackadaisical old man, to the stony expression of the leader of a great nation.

"With the rest of the clan dead..." The Hokage's face was solemn at this statement. His expression immediately went back to that of a leader as he nodded to Sasuke's prone form "... or incapacitated, who has the authority to decide who is allowed to hear such information?" The Hokage finished with his piece Naruto pondered for a minute before responding.

"Uchiha Sasuke, or his surrogate... I see what you're getting at, I suppose that as his confidant I would count... Nonetheless it would be a breach of clan law to give you that information Hokage-sama." It pained Sarutobi to hear the bubbly young boy to refer to him in such a formal manner.

"Who in your opinion would be suitable to talk to?" The Hokage finally asked.

"Anyone who is not under your direct authority... and who is of sufficient standing in the clan..." The Hokage brought his hand to his face in exasperation. Sometimes he really hated the fact that the young blonde was as good of a sponge for details as the boy's father was. The Hokage sat back in his chair behind the pile of rubble that was once a desk. "Hokage-sama, with the clan in the shape it is in, and with my being the only one able to make the decision, I hate to have to do this... But the only people I can think of with such standing are all active ninja. I believe the only way to go any further would be to convince one of the ninja who is qualified to step down from their ninja duties in order to serve as a retainer for the clan..."

Sarutobi sighed at this. While whoever was selected would technically be able to serve and to carry out missions as a shinobi, Sarutobi would need to get permission from the Uchiha clan before he could send the retainer on any mission. Due to the weak state of the village he couldn't afford to allow any of his higher ranked shinobi to be put under such scrutiny. He also knew that Naruto would not settle for anything he thought Fugaku himself wouldn't have. The old ninja just knew that this boy's admirable qualities, such as respect for the opinions and commands of the now deceased Uchiha leader, and for the traditions of the clan who took him in, would cause him even more trouble down the line. Sarutobi took a few more puffs on his pipe before continuing.

"I think all I can do is have you name people you consider qualified until we find one we can both agree on." At this the blonde sat down and stared at Sasuke's unconscious form. He knew that whoever he chose would be responsible for guarding clan secrets, in respect to Fugaku, a man he viewed as a surrogate father, he couldn't afford to waste this opportunity either. It was very rare that circumstances allowed for a clan to essentially hand pick an elite ninja to have as their surrogate. Usually there are at least a handful of obvious candidates outside of the ninja population, but seeing as how there was just a massive attack, and any personal connections with now deceased clan members would be impossible to verify it meant he could get a much better person under the clan than would normally be available. Fugaku would likely never forgive the young boy in the afterlife if he squandered such an opportunity. Naruto immediately went through the greatest of the greats in his head, the lead ninja of great renown.

"Hatake Kakashi, he already has a Sharingan, and his teammate was an Uchiha."

"Rejected, he is too valuable, and I know for a fact he would never agree anyway." Naruto was startled at the fact the old man had responded so quickly and easily. Despite the dire circumstances from Sasuke's condition Naruto smiled. It was rare that he found someone this decisive and thoughtful. He knew his only chance of getting someone who even the dead clan head would approve of. His best bet would be to go with even more unreasonable requests to throw the Hokage off, then request someone who while also unreasonable would appear to be much less so.

"Hyuuga Hiashi, as a clan leader he would obviously be suitable." The Hokage was just as fast at responding as he was at the suggestion for Kakashi.

"Rejected, even if he _might_ accept, which I can assure you he would not, it would be an unprecedented violation of clan sovereignty to even _ask_ him."

"Anko Mitarashi." Naruto let it hang on its own and he could practically see the gears turning in the Hokage's head. After half a minute the response finally came.

"Explain." This response caused Naruto to smile in an almost malicious manner.

"While she was only recently re-assimilated as a leaf ninja she was the prodigal apprentice of Orochimaru, who was known for his desire to acquire the SHaringan, as well as conducting all manner of experiments. It is likely that she already knows much that could be used to help us defend the Sharingan from falling into enemy hands." After his answer Naruto noticed the visibly relax, as if he was worried about the reason why Anko was selected.

"Rejected, she is my only non-anbu willing to do assassinations at the moment." Naruto was about to retort with his next candidate when Tsunade put her hand on the boy's shoulder. Grinning like a devil she looked at the younger blonde and stared into his eyes. She saw a determination in him she had only seen a handful of times. She spun to face the Hokage who after seeing her reaction was now grinning back at her.

"Sensei, I'll do it." Naruto was taken aback by this interjection.

"Well Naruto? She is of Senju blood, was my student, and is a legend through and through." Naruto was still beside himself. He named two jonin and a special jonin and had them all rejected outright, but he somehow managed to get Tsunade Senju, on of the Sannin? Something was going on here.

"What is the catch?" The Hokage's grin went wider.

"Oh no, no catch. But if she isn't going to be serving as a leaf ninja anymore, in order to become a surrogate for the Uchiha, then I am going to need to ask that the Uchiha clan retire my student's gambling debts." Naruto's face twisted in consternation, it seemed too easy.

"That's it?" He turned to Tsunade "Tsunade, if this lets you get this guy." At this he pointed to Sasuke. "Back on his feet, we can give you a budget for gambling in addition to clearing the debt. Having a Sannin as the official Uchiha medic has quite a nice ring to it. I think even Fugaku couldn't disagree." Naruto's smile waned when he saw the grins on the older ninja's faces.

"Tsunade why don't you take Sasuke to the hospital while Naruto and I get this in writing." Without saying a word the slug princess unceremoniously picked up the sleeping Uchiha with one hand and leaped out the window.

Nearly half an hour later nearly the whole village awoke to the sound of the wail let out by the village's jinchuuriki. He spent the night at the hospital staring at Sasuke, hoping that the boy's father would forgive him for the large chunk of the clan's fortune that was now gone.


End file.
